Who knew that Kelly Chen had it in her to carry a period martial arts movie? After years of playing the sultry sexpuss in countless romances, An Empress and the Warriors has her donning a heavy, elaborate armour to lead a battalion of soldiers.

Set during the days of the Yan kingdom, Kelly delivers a passable performance as an empress who inherits the throne upon her father's death. She wills herself to learn martial arts so she can lead her army against enemies and invaders, but she can't stop herself from falling in love with Leon Lai, a Robin Hood-ish man who lives in the forest on organic yam.

A love triangle develops because her general (Donnie Yen) has been in love with her for, like, forever. How will the empress balance the demands of governance with the yearnings of her heart? Will her heart or head rule?

Directed by Ching Siu Ting, the legendary director of A Chinese Ghost Story, An Empress and the Warriors is a fairly well-made movie with terrific battle sequences and beautifully-designed costumes, but it is occasionally let down by cliched plot lines and less-than-satisfactory performances. Audiences who may have had their fill of Chinese period dramas glutting the cinemas — Curse of the Golden Flower, The Warlords, The Myth, et al — might want to wait for John Woo's Red Cliff in July, which we hear is much better.